Mellon  Institute  of  Industrial  Research  and  School  of 
Specific  Industries 

Smoke  Investigation  Bulletin  No.  3 

SHEWERO  IVORY  FRANZ 

GOVT.    HOS*     50R    THE   5NS  *N 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

Psychological  Aspects  of  the  Problem  of 
Atmospheric  Smoke  Pollution 


By 

J.  E.  Wallace  Wailin,  Ph.  D. 

Director  of  Psychological  Clinic,  University  of  Pittsburgh 


University  of  Pittsburgh 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

J9J3 


Mellon  Institute  of  Industrial  Research  and  School  of 
Specific  Industries 

Robert  Kennedy  Duncan,  Sc.D Director. 

Raymond  F.  Bacon,  Ph.D Associate  Director. 

STAFF  OF  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

Raymond  C.  Benner,  Ph.D Chief  Fellow  and  Chemist. 

Joseph  A.  Beck,  LL.B Attorney. 

A.  B.  Bellows,  B.S Engineer. 

W.  W.  Blair,  M.D Physician. 

J.  E.  Clevenger,  M.S Botanist. 

B.  A.  Cohoe,  A.B.,  M.D Physician. 

E.  W.  Day,  A.M.,  M.D Physician. 

S.  B.  Haythorn,  M.D Physician. 

W.  L.  Holman,  A.B.,  M.D Physician. 

Richard  Hooker,  B.S Architect. 

C.  T.  Ingham Architect. 

Richard  Kiehnel Architect. 

H.  H.  Kimball,  Ph.D Meteorologist. 

Oskar  Klotz,  M.D.,  C.M... Physician. 

E.  B.  Lee Architect. 

C.  H.  Marcy,  A.B Bacteriologist. 

O.  R.  McBride,  B.S Engineer. 

E.  H.  McClelland,  Ph.B Bibliographer. 

R.  T.  Miller,  Jr.,  A.B.,  M.D Surgeon. 

A.  F.  Nesbit,  B.S.,  A.M Engineer. 

J.  J.  O'Connor,  Jr.,  A.B Economist. 

K.  K.  Stevens,  B.S Chemist. 

A.  A.  Straub,  M.E Engineer. 

Carlton  Strong Architect. 

W.  W.  Strong,  Ph.D Physicist. 

J.  E.  Wallace  Wallin,  Ph.D Psychologist. 

W.  C.  White,  M.D Physician. 

Ruth  E.  Gilchrist Secretary. 


Mellon   Institute  of  Industrial  Research  and   School  of 
Specific  Industries 

Smoke  Investigation  Bulletin  No,  3 


Psychological  Aspects  of  the  Problem  of 
Atmospheric  Smoke  Pollution 


By 
J.  E.  Wallace  Wallin,  Ph,  D. 

Director  of  Psychological  Clinic,  University  of  Pittsburgh 


University  of  Pittsburgh 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

W3 


Introduction 

All  that  can  be  wisely  attempted  in  an  article  which 
aims  merely  to  furnish  a  preliminary  survey  of  the  psycho- 
logical aspects  of  the  smoke  problem,  is  to  outline  the  scope 
of  the  inquiry,  to  review  briefly  the  direct  and  indirect 
data,  whether  impressionistic,  observational,  statistical  or 
experimental,  which  bear  on  the  problem  and  which  are 
already  available  in  recorded  observations  or  in  literary 
and  scientific  memoirs,  and,  finally,  to  suggest  certain 
problems  amenable  to  statistical  or  experimental  study. 

The  smoke  palls  of  our  industrial  centers  exert  both 
a  direct  and  indirect  influence  upon  the  human  organism. 
The  direct  influence  is  due  to  the  immediate  contact  of  the 
sinoke-contaminated  and  poison-laden  air  with  the  skin, 
mucous  membranes  and  sense  organs  of  the  body.  The 
indirect  effects  are  traceable  to  the  various  meteorological 
states  which  are  due  to  smoke  products  in  the  atmos- 
phere, and  which  in  turn  directly  influence  the  body. 
Frequently,  possibly  always,  the  smoke  conditions  and  the 
state  of  the  atmosphere  are  so  inextricably  mixed  that  the 
biological  effects  must  be  ascribed  to  the  joint  action  of 
both  factors.  Only  in  a  controlled  experiment  would  it 
be  possible  absolutely  to  segregate,  and  thus  separately  to 
measure,  the  effects  of  the  smoke  and  meteorological  fac- 
tors of  weather  states.  This  has  not  yet  been  attempted. 

The  mental  effects  due  to  atmospheric  smoke  and  its 
related  weather  states  are  likewise  both  direct  and  indi- 
rect. The  indirect  effects  are  due  to  the  influences  ex- 
erted by  smoke  clouds  and  smoke-produced  weather  states 
on  the  physiological  organism — on  health,  well-being,  en- 
ergy, freshness,  potential  reserve,  sensori-motor  efficiency — 
and  to  the  influences  thus  directly  exerted  by  the  changed 
bodily  states  on  the  mind :  on  mental  tension,  balance,  inhi- 
bition, impulse,  inclination,  feeling,  emotion,  thought,  and 
conduct.  On  the  other  hand,  the  direct  mental  effects  are 
traceable  to  the  immediate  influences,  whether  conscious 
or  unconscious,  exerted  on  the  individual's  mental  action 


4  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

by  his  own  experiences — by  the  thoughts,  feelings  and  im- 
pulses which  have  been  excited  in  him  by  various  bodily 
states,  sensations  and  perceptions  produced  by  cloud  and 
weather  conditions — or  which  have  been  directly  produced 
by  processes  of  association  and  habit  formation,  the  latter 
of  which  have  themselves  been  initiated  by  thoughts  or 
responses  occasioned,  in  the  first  instance,  by  the  physio- 
logical effects  of  external  influences.  The  action  of  the 
mind  itself  does  have  a  determining  influence  upon  its  own 
subsequent  attitudes,  beliefs,  propensities  and  habits.  It 
is  important  that  these  direct  effects  of  the  mind's  own 
action  upon  its  subsequent  behavior  be  recognized,  for 
much  of  the  mental  gloom  and  depression  occasioned  by 
dismal  cosmic  influences  has  merely  been  initiated  by  the 
external  stimuli.  Their  peculiar  intensity  is  largely  due 
to  the  subject's  own  introspections,  to  his  own  stream  of 
thought.  The  mental  influences  are  often  more  pro- 
nounced than  the  bodily  influences,  whether  the  mental  in- 
fluences arise  from  somatic  alterations  or  from  introspec- 
tive changes.  Cosmic  states  are,  perhaps,  less  to  be  re- 
garded as  causes  of  mental  action  than  factors  which  may 
upset  the  emotional  balance,  lessen  inhibition  and  alter 
the  train  of  thought  and  conduct. 

It  is  also  important  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  no 
hard  and  fast  line  of  demarcation  can  be  drawn  between 
the  bodily  and  mental  effects  of  smoke-clouds  or  smoke- 
produced  weather  states.  The  human  organism  is  a  psy- 
cho-biological unity,  and  we  cannot,  except  in  a  purely  arti- 
ficial and  arbitrary  fashion,  divide  the  soma  and  the  psyche 
into  two  independent  compartments.  Bodily  states  nor- 
mally influence  mental  states  and  mental  states,  in  turn, 
normally  influence  bodily  processes,  particularly  the  func- 
tions of  the  glandular,  circulatory,  sexual  and  neural 
svstems. 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS 


I.    The  Pathology  of  Smoke 

THE  DIRECT  AND  INDIRECT  EFFECTS  OF  SMOKE  ON  BODILY 
AND  MENTAL  WELL-BEING. 

A.     The  direct  effects  of  smoke  on  health  and  conduct. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  the  average  adult  con- 
sumes about  30  cubic  inches  of  air  in  each  inhalation  or 
possibly  864,000  cubic  inches  every  day,  it  does  not  seem 
an  exaggeration  to  say  that  more  persons  are  devitalized, 
disabled  and  poisoned  by  the  impurities  contained  in 
smoke-polluted  air,  than  by  the  noxious  ingredients  in 
food  and  water.  Not  only  do  the  solid  and  vaporous  in- 
gredients of  smoke-begrimed  air — noxious  compounds  of 
carbon,  sulphur,  nitrogen,  chlorine,  and  arsenic — irritate 
the  sensitive  membranes  of  the  eyes,  nose,  throat  and  lungs, 
and  thus  aggravate  or  cause  inflammatory  diseases  of 
these  organs,  or  produce  collapse  of  their  sensitive  tissues, 
or  increase  their  susceptibility  to  such  specific  diseases  as 
bronchitis,  pneumonia  and  subacute  forms  of  phthisis; 
but  the  poisonous  compounds  also  enter  the  gastro-intes- 
tinal  tract,  and  this  causes  nausea,  vomiting,  diarrhea  and 
systemic  poisoning.  That  the  gastro-intestinal  tract  is 
affected  by  inhaled  solids  has  been  demonstrated  by  the 
experiments  of  Saito  (19)1  on  dogs  and  rabbits  which 
were  compelled  to  inhale,  during  periods  varying  from 
1  to  33  hours,  air  charged  with  white  lead  dust.  Only 
from  4  to  24%  of  the  dust  was  subsequently  recovered  from 
the  respiratory  organs  while  the  remainder  was  found  in 
the  digestive  organs.  In  the  case  of  a  man  who  inhaled 
the  air  from  10  to  15  minutes  on  20  occasions  and  who 
avoided  acts  of  swallowing,  95%  of  the  dust  remained  in 
the  body,  50%  of  which  was  primarily  retained  in  the  nares. 
By  processes  of  exclusion  12%  probably  found  its  way  to 
the  lungs,  for  60  to  80%  was  recovered  from  the  alimen- 

1.     Figures    placed    within    parenthesis    refer    to    the    corresponding 
references   in   the  bibliography  at   the   close   of   the   paper. 


6  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

tary  canal.     Thus  the  principal  portal  of  entry  of  soluable 
inhaled  dust  appears  to  be  the  alimentary  canal. 

The  deleterious  effects  on  the  human  system  from 
inhalation  of  smoke-polluted  air,  which  contains  not  only 
acrid  and  irritating  solids,  but  a  certain  amount  of  deadly 
poisons,  should  be  obvious  from  a  consideration  of  the 
comparatively  great  density  of  the  impurities  in  the  atmos- 
phere of  industrial  centers.  The  weight  of  the  solid  mat- 
ter in  the  soot-laden  air  at  Leeds,  England,  has  been  found 
to  be  1.2  mg.  per  100  cu.  ft,  of  air,  or  200  Ibs.  per  sq.  mi. 
(300  ft.  high.)  The  soot- fall  per  square  mile  per  year  has 
amounted  to  220  tons  in  Leeds,  820  tons  in  Glasgow  and  259 
tons  in  London.  Moreover,  by  means  of  the  dust  counter 
the  number  of  dust  particles  in  the  air  at  Leeds  has  been 
found  to  vary  from  530,000  to  3,736,000  per  cu.  inch.  In 
manufacturing  cities  the  number  of  dust  particles  often 
exceeds  300,000  per  cu.  cm.  even  in  fine  weather,  as  com- 
pared with  a  few  hundred  in  the  country  (Aitken,  4).  A 
large  percentage  of  these  particles  consists  of  the  soot 
from  factory,  locomotive  and  domestic  fires.  Not  only 
are  these  conditions,  bad  as  they  are,  aggravated  during 
foggy  weather  but  on  moderately  foggy  days  the  quantity 
of  solid  organic  impurities  may  be  increased  700%  as  com- 
pared with  fine  weather  (Russell).  During  grimy,  opaque 
fogs,  the  conditions  are  still  worse. 

That  the  constant  inhalation  of  poison-laden  air, 
largely  made  up  of  the  soot  particles  which  abound  in 
manufacturing  cities,  diminishes  the  potential  reserve,  the 
productive  efficiency  and  the  bodily  well-being  of  our  city 
dwellers  by  causing  specific  diseases,  has  been  abundantly 
shown  by  various  studies.  The  mortality  from  acute  pul- 
monary diseases,  especially  in  children  and  old  people, 
has  increased,  and  the  course  of  pulmonary  tuberculosis 
has  been  accelerated  in  Germany  as  the  country  has  be- 
come more  industrial.  The  increase  in  non-tubercular 
lung  mortality  has  amounted  to  30%  in  the  smoky  town 
of  Waldenburg  compared  with  the  nearby  textile  town  of 
Wusterwaltersdorf  (Ascher,  16).  The  death  rate  per 
10,000  for  the  same  diseases  is  30.6  in  the  non-smoky  city 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  7 

of  Hamm  as  compared  with  57.4  in  the  smoky  city  of  Gel- 
serkirchen.  In  all  German  towns  with  a  population  of 
over  15,000  the  death  rate  is  24.0,  while  in  the  smoky  in- 
dustrial centers  of  similar  size  in  Rhenish  Westphalia  it 
is  34.0,  and  in  the  industrial  districts  in  upper  Silesia  it  is 
36.0  (Ascher,  4) ;  in  rural  districts  in  England  it  is  17.5 
compared  with  26.5  in  urban  industrial  districts  (4). 
During  the  anthracite  strike  in  this  country  there  was  re- 
ported an  increase  of  suspected  tubercular  cases.  In 
Rochester  there  was  observed  an  increase  of  pulmonary 
affections  with  the  increase  of  the  smoke  nuisance  between 
1895-1904.  In  Pittsburgh  a  recent  investigation  by  Dr. 
W.  C.  White  shows  that  pneumonia  increases  with  the 
density  of  atmospheric  smoke,  irrespective  of  the  density 
of  population  or  of  poverty.  The  increase  is  as  marked  in 
the  well-to-do  as  in  the  poorer  sections  with  relatively  the 
same  smoke  density.  In  late  years  pneumonia  has  as- 
sumed a  very  acute  and  fatal  form  in  Pittsburgh. 

That  "much  of  human  life,  energy  and  happiness  is 
wasted  by  the  effects  of  vapors,  noxious  because  wasted,  is 
now  an  established  certainty"  (Gillespie,  8).  It  has  been 
estimated  that  London's  annual  smoke  tax  amounts  to 
|1,500,000  in  death,  disease  and  lowered  working  capacity 
alone.  Unfortunately  up  to  the  present  time  there  has 
been  no  scientific  attempt  made  to  directly  measure  the 
degree  in  which  the  producing  capacity  and  the  bodily  and 
mental  efficiency  of  city  dwellers  may  be  impaired  by 
atmospheric  impurities,  nor  has  any  effort  been  made  to 
measure  the  direct  or  indirect  influences  of  smoke  upon 
sensory,  motor,  intellectual,  affective  and  emotional  func- 
tions, and  on  the  habits  and  conduct  of  human  beings. 
A  part  of  the  human  waste  caused  by  smoke-polluted  air 
is  certainly  due  to  the  irritation  caused  by  solid  smoke  par- 
ticles. The  functional  efficiency  of  the  visual,  naso-phar- 
yngeal,  pulmonary,  gastro-intestinal  and  neural  mechan- 
isms, may  be  more  or  less  disabled  by  constant  irritation 
by  solid  particles.  But  it  is  likewise  presumptively  prob- 
able that  irritating,  acrid  soot  particles  and  poisonous 
smoke  compounds  may  become  factors  in  causing  prema- 


8  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

ture  decay,  untimely  death,  exaggerated  fatigue,  frequent 
sickness,  instability  of  attention,  malcontent,  irritability, 
lessened  self-control  and  possibly  psychic  disequilibrium. 
It  is  probable  that  there  goes  on  a  gradual  process  of  ab- 
sorption by  the  human  system  of  the  poisonous  products 
of  imperfect  smoke  combustion.  This  insensible  intake 
may  not  give  rise  to  any  definitely  recognizable  acute  dis- 
order or  specific  disabilities.  But  the  process  of  slow 
poisoning  may  insidiously  eat  away  like  a  mild  canker  at 
vital  tissues  and  thus  in  time  deplete  our  potential  re- 
serve, thereby  making  it  impossible  for  body  and  brain  to 
function  at  their  points  of  maximal  efficiency.  With  an 
impaired  brain  the  mind  cannot  reach  its  highest  levels  of 
creative  insight  and  constructive  achievement.  It  has 
often  been  a  matter  of  comment  that  people  who  have  lived 
in  relatively  smoke-free  cities  after  coming  to  live  in  a 
city  like  Pittsburgh,  have  experienced  a  distinct  disinclina- 
tion to  work,  or  a  sort  of  chronic  ennui.  A  Pittsburgh 
business  man  writes  that  "people  coming  to  Pittsburgh  to 
reside  notice  a  great  depression;  likewise  many  residents 
of  Pittsburgh  on  visits  find  they  feel  infinitely  better  and 
business  men  working  for  periods  in  cities  where  there  is 
not  the  same  smoke  find  they  can  do  twice  as  much  work. 
These  are  not  isolated  cases  but  the  result  of  very  general 
inquiry  which  I  have  made  for  a  number  of  years.2  Peo- 
ple very  frequently  remark  on  the  depressed  expression 
not  only  on  the  working  men  of  Pittsburgh,  but  they  also 
observe  it  in  the  clubs.  It  is  very  frequently  referred  to 
humidity,  but  this  is  entirely  wrong  as  the  humidity  in 
New  York  ranges  much  higher  than  in  Pittsburgh.  This 
certainly  is  a  condition  that  tends  to  keep  people  from 
coming  here  and  makes  people  desirous  of  leaving  at  the 
first  opportunity." 

The  writer  of  this  essay  has  now  lived  in  Pittsburgh 
somewhat  over  a  year  and  has  experienced  during  this 
time  a  marked  distaste  or  disinclination  to  engage  in  pro- 


2.  The  writer  has  confirmed  this  statement  in  inquiries  made  among 
a  number  of  recent  professional  arrivals  in  Pittsburgh,  who  say  they  are 
more  fatigued  by  their  work  here  than  in  other  cities  where  they  have 
labored. 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  9 

ductive  authorship.  Clear,  trenchant,  reflective  thinking- 
seems  to  have  been  more  difficult ;  and  the  attempt  to  write 
concisely,  incisively  and  perspicuously  has  seemed  more 
labored.  Is  it  possible  that  the  low  esteem  in  which  Pitts- 
burgh is  held  in  the  world  of  productive  scholarship — a 
matter  of  occasional  remark  among  medical  men  and  other 
scientists — is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  air  which  its  scien- 
tists must  breathe  is  polluted  and  poisoned  by  smoke? 
[There  are  other  contributory  factors,  as  we  shall  see  in 
the  following  sections,  viz.,  the  various  devitalizing  weather 
states  induced  by  smoke,  and  possibly  the  common  use  of 
convection  heat  from  gas  stoves  in  the  living  rooms.  Con- 
vection heat  from  gas  stoves,  it  is  maintained  by  Scotch 
investigators,  is  more  injurious  than  heat  by  radiation 
(21).]  Is  it  possible  that  the  highest  spiritual  creations 
of  the  citizens  of  smoke-begrimed  cities  are  being  sacri- 
ficed on  the  altar  of  commercial  greed?  Is  it  possible  that, 
in  the  interests  of  a  pseudo-economy,  we  are  impairing  the 
very  brains  of  the  people  by  permitting  our  breathing  air 
to  be  saturated  with  the  poisons  of  preventable  fumes? 
Is  it  possible  that  the  industrial  energy  for  which  Pitts- 
burgh has  become  famous  is  less  due  to  the  surpassing  ex- 
cellence of  the  brain  and  brawn  of  its  workers  than  to  the 
munificent  bounty  of  its  mines?  We  shall  probably  not 
be  able  to  offer  any  satisfactory  answer  to  questions  such 
as  these  until  a  series  of  controlled  psychological  experi- 
ments on  efficiency,  fatigue,  and  endurance  (in  so  far  as 
various  motor,  sensory,  and  intellectual  functions  are  con- 
cerned), have  been  carried  out  under  varying  degrees  of 
density  of  atmospheric  smoke. 

B.  The  indirect  influences  of  smoke  on  mental  and 
physical  well-being;  the  meteorological  aspects  of  atmos- 
pheric smoke  contamination. 

I  shall  first  discuss  the  meteorological  variations  pro- 
duced by  smoke,  and  then  the  effects  of  the  smoke-produced 
weather  states  upon  well-being. 

The  smoke-clouds  of  our  cities  influence  a  number  of 
weather  states  which  affect  human  conduct.  The  meteoro- 


10  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

logical  conditions  particularly  affected  are:  sunshine, 
clouds,  humidity,  fogs,  temperature,  electrical  potential 
and  luminosity.  That  the  smoke  from  factory  and  domes- 
tic fires,  by  filling  the  atmosphere  with  opaque  clouds  of 
smoke  and  by  inducing  mists  and  fogs,  deprives  the  city 
dwellers  of  the  luminous,  vitalizing,  cheering,  health  giv- 
ing, germicidal  rays  of  the  sun,  has  been  proved  by  numer- 
ous observations  and  tests.  It  has  been  computed  that 
seven-eighths  of  the  sun's  power  is  shut  out  by  the  smoke 
in  the  manufacturing  center  of  London,  and  five-eighths  in 
Westminster.  The  percentage  of  sunshine  in  these  two 
places  compared  with  the  rural  stations  of  Oxford,  Cam- 
bridge, Marlborough  and  Gildiston  was  found  to  be  as 
follows  (12)  : 

TABLE  I. 

Winter  Summer 

From  1881-1885 :        17  %  83% 

"      1906-1910:       38%  92% 

It  is  observable  that  the  amount  of  sunshine  suffers  an 
enormous  reduction  in  the  winter  time  but  only  a  very 
slight  diminution  in  the  summer,  and  that  during  the  last 
five  years  the  conditions  have  considerably  improved,  due, 
as  we  are  told,  to  the  considerable  abatement  during  the 
last  decade  or  two  of  London  smoke.  During  one  calen- 
dar year  the  hours  of  sunshine  in  the  center  of  Leeds 
amounted  to  1164  while  the  corresponding  figure  for  Adel, 
which  is  only  4  miles  distant,  was  1402  (4).  Thus  the 
loss  of  sunshine  in  Leeds  due  to  smoke  amounted  to  17%. 
The  diminution  of  sunshine  in  towns  near  smoke-produc- 
ing cities  is,  again,  shown  in  the  following  tabulation  of 
the  comparative  monthly  average  duration  of  bright  sun- 
shine for  a  period  of  20  years  (24)  : 

TABLE  II. 


Station 

Nov. 

Dec. 

Jan. 

Feb. 

Runhill  Row 

22.8% 

7.5% 

14.1% 

30.5% 

Westminster 

27.7% 

13.1% 

18.4% 

32.8% 

Kew 

50.8% 

38.1% 

40.3% 

54.6% 

Cambridge 

61.0% 

40.6% 

48.9% 

72.8% 

PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS 


11 


At  Kew,  seven  miles  west  of  London,  the  reduction  of  sun- 
shine due  to  the  London  smoke  has  been  placed  at  37% 
for  a  whole  year. 

In  the  United  States  of  America  for  the  decennium, 
1901-1910,  the  aggregate  hours  of  sunshine,  percentage  of 
possible  sunshine,  number  of  cloudy  days,  number  of  partly 
cloudy  days,  and  number  of  foggy  days  have  been  found  by 
the  Pittsburgh  smoke  investigators,  from  a  study  of  the 
records  gathered  by  the  United  States  Weather  Bureau 
in  various  cities  throughout  the  country,  to  be  as  shown 
in  Table  III. 

TABLE  III. 

STATISTICS  OF  SUNSHINE  IN  18  CITIES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


Baltimore 

Boston 

Buffalo 

Chicago 

Cincinnati 

Cleveland 

Denver 

Detroit 

Los  Angeles 

Louisville 

New  Orleans 

New  York 

Philadelphia 

Pittsburgh 

Portland,  Me 

San  Franciscc 

St.  Louis 

Washington 

D.  C. 

It  is  observable  that  all  the  cities  which  have  become 
notorious  in  the  matter  of  smoke  pollution  show  a  very 
low  percentage  of  sunshine,  the  worst  conditions  obtaining 
in  the  two  cities  having  the  most  unsavory  reputation  for 


1. 

Aggregate 

2. 
Percentage 

3. 

No.  of 

4. 

No.  of 

5. 
No.  of 

6. 
Total 

hrs.   of 

of  possible 

cloudy 

partly 

foggy 

of  3 

sunshine. 

sunshine. 

days. 

cloudy  days. 

days. 

and  4. 

26,466 

58.7 

1440 

1018 

142 

2458 

25,877 

56.8 

1398 

1003 

98 

2401 

23,200 

49.7 

1713 

1324 

157 

3037 

26,442 

57.9 

1238 

1282 

116 

2520 

26,758 

58.6 

1356 

1202 

81 

2588 

22,394 

47.8 

1584 

1187 

67 

2771 

29,355 

65.9 

645 

1500 

45 

2145 

23,201 

50.3 

1477 

1165 

133 

2642 

31,521 

70.9 

743 

1404 

258 

2147 

25,715 

56.8 

1284 

1094 

233 

2378 

26,091 

58.6 

1045 

1365 

162 

2410 

28,762 

57.6 

1279 

1182 

120 

2461 

25,249 

56.6 

1369 

1071 

127 

2440 

22,573 

49.0 

1385 

1294 

185 

2679 

26,914 

59.4 

1321 

1040 

303 

2361 

25,453 

56.3 

900 

1136 

241 

2036 

24,957 

58.7 

1185 

1019 

42 

2204 

25,078 

55.8 

1088 

1135 

115 

2223 

12  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

srnoke,  viz.,  Cleveland  and  Pittsburgh.  These  two  cities 
consistently  have  the  worst  records  for  sunshine,  for  per- 
centage of  possible  sunshine  and  for  cloudy  and  partly 
cloudy  days  (combined  totals).  Unfortunately  no  meteor- 
ological data  are  available  from  stations  situated  in  non- 
smoke-producing  centers  whose  geographical  conditions  are 
similar  to  those  obtaining  in  smoke-producing  cities  like 
Pittsburgh,  Cleveland,  Detroit,  Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis. 
The  above  data  only  enable  us  to  compare  the  atmospheric 
conditions  of  one  smoky  city  with  another  smoky  city  or 
with  cities  whose  geographical  surroundings  are  so  differ- 
ent as  to  render  the  data  useless  for  comparative  pur- 
poses. However,  the  data  recently  collected  by  the  Smoke 
Investigation  of  the  University  of  Pittsburgh  show,  in 
complete  accordance  with  similar  English  findings,  that 
the  lessened  amount  of  sunshine  in  Pittsburgh  is  due  to 
the  smoke  factor.  Figures  based  on  the  number  of  tons 
of  coal  consumed  in  Pittsburgh  from  1905  to  1911  show  a 
fair  degree  of  parallelism  between  the  quantity  of  coal 
consumed  and  the  number  of  smoky  days.  During  the 
years  in  which  an  increasing  amount  of  coal  has  been 
burned  (owing  to  the  heightened  cost  of  gas)  the  hours  of 
sunshine  have  fallen  from  about  2800  to  2200.  Likewise 
the  days  on  which  the  United  States  Weather  Bureau  has 
observed  light  or  dark  smoke  in  Pittsburgh,  have  increased 
as  follows  for  the  successive  years  from  1905-1911 :  85,  87, 
106, 124, 112,  100  and  156  days  (O'Connor,  17) .  With  the 
increase  of  coal  consumption  has  come  an  increase  of 
smoky  days.  Dr.  Benner  tells  me  that  the  per  cent,  of 
daylight  (as  chemically  determined)  in  Pittsburgh  was 
reduced  for  last  November  about  32%,  for  December  23%, 
January  36%  and  February  44%  as  compared  with  the 
town  of  Sewickley  which  is  only  about  12  miles  distant. 
There  can  then  be  no  doubt  that  smoke  lessens  the  amount 
of  sunshine. 

Smoke  likewise  is  directly  related  to  the  production 
of  moisture,  mist,  clouds,  rain  or  fogs,  because  it  supplies 
some  of  the  solid  particles  which  may  serve  to  aid  in  the 
formation  of  suspended  drops  of  water.  Rain  drops  are 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  13 

often  formed  around  a  solid  nucleus.  Without  solid  par- 
ticles of  dust  in  the  atmosphere  there  would  probably  be 
much  less  mist,  rain  and  dew  (4).  We  would,  therefore, 
infer  on  merely  a  priori  grounds  that  smoke  contributes 
to  the  production  of  fogs.  That  this  is  so  seems  to  be 
shown  by  actual  investigation.  An  investigation  con- 
ducted by  the  Meteorological  Council  in  1901-1903  indi- 
cated that  20%  of  the  fogs  in  London  were  smoke-induced, 
(4,  21) — artificially  induced  and  therefore  preventable 
fogs.  Most  suggestive,  as  showing  that  smoke  is  partly 
responsible  for  the  existence  of  fogs,  are  the  fog  and  smoke 
statistics  gathered  in  London  during  the  last  30  years,  as 
shown  in  Table  IV  (applicable  to  the  winter  months  only) . 
The  number  of  days  of  fog  have  been  reduced  nearly  300% 
and  the  hours  of  bright  sunshine  have  increased  nearly 
100%  during  this  30-year  period  (10). 

TABLE  IV. 

Date  Days  of  Fog  Hours  of  bright  sunshine 

1883-1892  29.9%  55.6% 

1892-1901  20.7%  70.1% 

1901-1910  10.6%  93.5% 

Likewise  in  Westminster  the  number  of  days  of  fog 
averaged  27  per  year  for  the  lustrum  1902-1906,  and  17  per 
year  for  the  period  1907-1911.  The  improvement  shown 
above  is  due,  in  large  part,  to  the  increased  use  of  gas  and 
electricity  and  to  better  stoking  (Kershaw,  Russell).  On 
the  other  hand,  if  we  turn  to  Pittsburgh  where  the  amount 
of  smoke  has  been  on  the  increase  in  recent  years,  we  find 
that  the  number  of  days  of  fog  increased  from  an  average 
of  22.6  per  year  for  the  first  five  year  period  to  50.2  for 
the  second  five  year  period,  1907-1911. 

Not  only  is  smoke  related  to  the  frequency  of  fogs, 
but  it  also  increases  both  the  duration  and  the  density  of 
fogs.  The  water  globules  become  coated  with  a  film  of 
black,  sticky,  tarry  soot  which  retards  evaporation.  These 
soot  fogs,  or  "pea-soup"  fogs  as  they  have  often  been 
called  because  of  their  grimy  opacity,  may  at  times  be- 


14  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

come  practically  impervious  to  the  luminous  rays  of  the 
sun.  Even  in  one  of  the  lighter  varieties  of  fogs  the  soot 
products  may  increase  seven  fold.  Many  average  soot- 
fogs  reduce  the  amount  of  light  one-half.  On  an  excep- 
tionally dark  day  in  Berlin  the  light  was  only  1/500  of 
what  it  was  on  an  ordinary  overcast  day  and  only  1/3000 
to  1/4000  of  what  is  was  on  an  entirely  clear  day  (H.  H. 
Kimball).  The  smoke  in  the  center  of  Leeds  on  an  ordi- 
nary day  absorbs  as  much  as  25%  of  the  total  daylight  as 
compared  with  the  suburban  sections  of  Leeds,  or  40%  as 
compared  with  the  suburb  of  Garforth,  which  is  7  miles 
distant  (4). 

That  smoke  must  materially  decrease  the  limits  of 
visibility  is  patent  from  what  has  been  said.  The  limits 
of  visibility  vary  with  the  number  of  dust  particles  in 
the  air:  1,000  particles  per  cu.  cm.  render  large  objects 
like  mountains  invisible  at  a  distance  of  100  miles ;  100,000 
particles  render  them  invisible  1  mile  away,  and  1,000,000 
particles  1/10  of  a  mile  distant  (Aitken).  Smoke  not 
only  fills  the  atmosphere  with  countless  numbers,  but  with 
extremely  opaque  particles.  These  particles  may  unite 
with  globules  of  water  and  this  makes  the  atmosphere 
still  more  opaque.  As  was  stated  above,  in  large  cities 
even  in  fine  weather  there  may  be  over  300,000  particles 
per  cu.  cm.,  as  against  a  few  hundred  in  the  country.  Ac- 
cordingly, we  find  in  London  that  the  limit  of  visibility 
in  the  winter  time,  even  during  the  clear  part  of  the  day, 
does  not  exceed  one-half  mile. 

The  temperature  readings  are  somewhat  unsatisfac- 
tory because  they  usually  include  only  the  maximum  and 
minimum  records  for  each  day.  Minimum  temperatures 
are  found  to  be  perceptibly  higher  in  the  cities  than  in 
the  country,  partly  because  of  city  heat,  but  chiefly  be- 
cause the  smoke  blankets  prevent  the  escape  of  the  heat 
at  night.  In  Pittsburgh  the  minimum  temperature  aver- 
ages about  4°  higher  than  the  temperature  in  the  adjacent 
stations  (Kimball).  In  the  day  time  the  upper  surface  of 
the  smoke  clouds  absorbs  portions  of  the  sun's  heat,  and 
this  inevitably  lessens  the  heat  on  the  ground  surface.  The 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  15 

solar  energy  has  been  reduced  40%  by  smoke  clouds  (12), 
and  it  is  possible  that  very  little  heat  penetrates  to  the 
earth's  surface  during  a  very  dense  smoke  cloud.  In  Lon- 
don the  surface  temperature  during  a  given  reading  was 
44°  F.,  while  59  ft.  directly  above  it  was  51.5°,  a  differ- 
ence of  7.5°. ,  Between  9  A.  M.  and  3  P.  M.  the  surface 
temperature  rose  7.5°,  while  the  roof  reading  rose  16.5°, 
or  more  than  twice  as  much.  Although  thoroughly  satis- 
factory data  are  not  available  it  is  undoubted  that  smoke 
(which  is  most  abundant  in  the  atmosphere  in  the  winter 
time,  owing  to  lessened  convection)  lowers  very  percepti- 
bly the  diurnal  winter  temperature  in  smoke-producing 
cities. 

Finally,  smoke  indirectly  affects  the  electrical  poten- 
tial of  the  atmosphere.  I  know  of  no  direct  study  of  this 
question,  but  it  is  possible  that  smoke  causes  a  decrease 
in  the  potential  because  it  tends  to  increase  humidity.  An 
increase  of  humidity  decreases  the  potential  ( save  possibly 
during  fogs,  as  noted  later,  14).  We  are  also  told  that 
the  potential  increases  with  the  turbidity  (Trubung)  of 
the  atmosphere,  and  consequently  with  high  barometric 
pressure.  Since  smoke  tends  to  decrease  the  diurnal  tem- 
perature, particularly  in  the  winter  time,  it  apparently 
tends  to  increase  the  diurnal  potential,  as  the  potential 
decreases  with  increasing  temperature  ( 14 ) . 

Having  thus  discussed  the  atmospheric  changes  caused 
by  smoke  we  now  turn  to  the  second  question.  How  do 
the  various  smoke-induced  weather  states  affect  the  mental 
and  bodily  health  and  happiness  of  human  beings?  It  is 
evident  that  the  problem  can  be  formulated  largely  in 
terms  of  sunshine  dynamics.  On  the  one  hand,  we  have 
the  psychic  and  physiological  influences  of  positive  states 
of  sunshine :  brightness,  luminosity,  warmth,  dryness,  the 
presence  of  the  infra-red,  spectral  and  ultra-violet  rays, 
and  high  electrical  potential  (because  of  dryness).  On  the 
other  hand,  we  have  the  effects  of  the  negative  states: 
gloom,  darkness,  cloudiness,  fogginess,  rain,  moisture,  cold 
and  low  electrical  potential.  It  is  utterly  impossible  to 


16  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

separate  all  of  these  components,  and  it  will,  therefore,  be 
no  easy  task  to  measure  the  influences  of  each  component. 

Literature,  both  poetry  and  prose,  contains  frequent 
allusions  to  the  alleged  effects  of  sunshine  or  the  absence 
of  sunshine  on  the  feelings  of  man.  Charles  Lamb  "felt 
himself  immortal"  and  "a  great  deal  taller"  on  bright 
days.  Moore  took  delight  in  sitting  in  the  sunshine : 

"Blessed  power  of  sunshine !  genial  day, 
What  balm,  what  life  are  in  thy  way ! 
To  feel  thee  is  such  real  bliss, 
That,  had  the  world  no  joy  but  this, 
To  sit  in  sunshine  calm  and  sweet, 
It  were  a  world  too  exquisite 
For  man  to  leave  it  for  the  gloom, 
The  deep  cold  shadow  of  the  tomb." 

Byron  felt  "more  religious  on  a  sunshiny  day,"  Pope  refers 
to  "the  soul's  calm  sunshine,"  Kousseau  sat  with  bared 
head  in  the  sun ;  Shelley  so  coveted  the  most  intense  sun- 
light that  he  did  his  writing  from  the  roof,  while  it  is  a 
common  observation  that  people  generally,  and  particu- 
larly the  aged,  instinctively  seek  the  sunshine.  Mrs.  He- 
mans  wrote  a  rapturous  apostrophe  to  the  sunbeam : 

"The  sunbeam  of  summer 
O!  what  is  like  thee; 
Hope  of  the  wilderness, 
Joy  of  the  sea." 

Many  writers  cannot  do  satisfactory  work  unless  the 
weather  fits  the  mood,  motive  or  scene ;  unfavorable  weather 
states  cause  a  disagreement  in  the  thought  processes  (27). 

Southey  refers  to  the  depressing  influence  made  upon 
him  by  the  "vile,  dark,  rainy  clouds"  of  Great  Britain, 
when  he  returned  from  a  sojourn  of  15  months  in  sunny 
Italy,  where  his  brain  was  in  a  state  of  high  illumination. 
An  Italian  proverb  runs  thus:  "Where  comes  no  sun  the 
doctor  comes."  Similarly  a  German  saw:  "The  funeral 
coach  turns  twice  as  often  on  the  shady  side  of  the  street 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  17 

as  on  the  sunny  side."     J.  Ashby-S terry  has  dwelt  upon 
the  demoralizing  effect  of  the  London  fog : 
"A  London  fog  when  it  arises 
All  London  soon  demoralizes." 

"It  chokes  our  lungs, 
Our  heads  feel  queer, 
We  cannot  see,  we  cannot  hear ! 
So  when  this  murky  pall  drops  down, 
Though  dearly  loving  London  town, 
We  feel  we  cannot  quite  revere 
A  London  fog." 

Likewise  Walter  C.  Smith : 

"A  grey  fog  in  the  early  prime, 

A  blue  fog  by  the  breakfast  hour, 
A  saffron  fog  at  luncheon  time, 
At  dinner  a  persistent  shower 
Of  smut,  and  then  a  dismal  power 
Of  choking  darkness  and  despair, 
Thickening  and  saddening  all  the  air." 

A  special  questionnaire  investigation  on  nephelo- 
psychosis  made  some  years  ago  by  G.  Stanley  Hall  and 
the  writer  (9)  indicated  that  heavy  black  clouds  and  fogs 
may  often  strike  fear  or  terror  into  children,  or  may  make 
them  feel  depressed  and  gloomy  or  restless.  Some  chil- 
dren experience  "terrible  fear"  at  times  and  others  feel 
that  "something  dreadful  will  happen  when  the  horrible 
black  ones  appear."  There  are  cases  on  record  of  actual 
motor  paralysis  caused  by  terrifying  clouds.  There  is 
here  an  interesting  parallelism  between  the  emotional  re- 
sponses called  out  by  clouds  in  the  children  of  to-day  and 
the  responses  called  out  in  primitive  races.  In  his  myth- 
opoetic tendency  primitive  man  read  fear  and  danger  in 
dark  clouds,  particularly  the  black  thunder  clouds.  The 
smoke  clouds  of  our  city  probably  depress  children  just 
as  any  dark  clouds  do,  and  when  particularly  black  may 
also  arouse  nephelophobias. 


18  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

Sir  Archibald  Geikie  has  ascribed  the  subdued,  grim 
character  of  the  Scot  to  the  gloom  of  his  valleys  and  the 
canopy  of  cloud  "which  for  a  large  part  of  the  year  cuts 
off  the  light  and  heat  of  the  sun."  The  French  formerly 
regarded  the  Englishmen  as  "rude,  unlettered  .  .  . 
surly,  ill-conditioned  men,  having  lived  in  an  unhappy 
climate  where  perpetual  fog,  only  varied  by  rain,  pre- 
vented the  sun  from  ever  being  seen,  suffering  from  so 
deep  and  inveterate  a  melancholy  that  physicians  had 
called  it  the  English  spleen,  and  under  the  influence  of 
this  cruel  malady  constantly  committing  suicide,  particu- 
larly in  November,  when  we  were  well  known  to  hang 
and  shoot  ourselves  by  the  thousands"  (2). 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  those  who  believe  that 
the  monotonous  gloom  of  England  has  inoculated  the 
Britain  against  moods  of  depression  and  hypochondria, 
and  made  for  the  evenness  of  temperament  which  is  said 
to  characterize  him  (18).  Gloomy  weather  would  thus 
serve  as  a  catharsis  against  the  very  depressions  which 
it  is  said  to  induce.  I  must  confess  that  this  reasoning 
seems  to  me  to  be  quite  specious.  The  effects  of  meteor- 
ological monotony,  particularly  of  depressing  states,  prob- 
ably do  not  differ  from  the  general  effects  of  physiological 
or  psychic  monotony:  narcosis,  hypnosis,  fatigue,  over- 
strain, distaste,  or  aversion.  However  that  may  be,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  many  persons  experience  an  exhil- 
arating, tonic  effect  on  a  bright,  sunshiny  day  and  a  de- 
pressing influence  on  gloomy  days — assertions  that  have, 
indeed,  been  ridiculed  by  Dr.  Johnson.  Fortunately 
these  impressionistic  views  on  the  buoyancy  of  sunshine 
and  on  the  depression  of  gloom  (particularly  cold  or  hot, 
damp,  dark  days)  find  a  certain  degree  of  support  in 
scientific  studies. 

Deprived  of  sunshine  the  human  skin  assumes  a  pale 
greenish  hue,  like  the  skin  of  the  people  in  the  polar  regions. 
This  is  probably  due  to  the  absence  of  the  blue  and  ultra- 
violet rays  of  the  sun  which  dilate  the  blood  vessels  and 
bring  the  blood  to  the  surface,  and  to  the  absence  of  the 
infra-red  rays  which  are  associated  with  heat.  Sunshine 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  19 

promotes  transpiration  and  perspiration,  and  thus  favors 
the  elimination  of  toxic  products  through  the  skin.  Bright, 
sunny  days  lessen  the  strain  on  the  kidneys. 

The  amount  of  blood  and  the  per  cent,  of  hemoglobin 
are  increased  by  sunlight  and  decreased  by  darkness. 
Oerum,  in  an  experiment  on  animals,  found  that  light  in- 
creased the  quantity  of  blood  25%  in  4  hours.  Likewise 
Grawitz  and  Graffenberger  have  observed  a  diminution  in 
the  quantity  of  blood  in  animals  kept  in  the  dark,  while 
Marti  found  under  similar  conditions  that  the  number  of 
red  blood  corpuscles  was  lessened  (13).  There  is  thus  a 
loss  of  red  coloring  matter  in  the  blood  of  animals  kept 
in  the  dark.  The  well-known  baker's  anemia  points  to 
the  same  impoverished  state  of  the  blood  in  night  workers 
( Gardenghi,  13 ) .  Not  only  so :  in  an  examination  of  29 
persons  Finsen  (7)  found  less  hemoglobin  in  the  winter 
than  in  the  summer,  presumably  because  of  the  diminished 
sunshine  in  the  winter  time.  Diesing  suggests  that  the 
lack  of  sunlight  in  northern  countries  is  an  essential  factor 
in  the  causation  of  rachitis.  The  rays  of  the  sun — specific- 
ally the  blue  and  ultra-violet  rays — thus  exercise  a  tonic 
or  stimulating  action  on  the  organs  of  circulation,  trans- 
piration and  elimination,  and  very  probably  also  directly 
stimulate  the  nervous  system.  Finsen  has  shown  that  be- 
numbed or  apparently  dead  insects  have  been  revitalized 
by  the  application  of  ultra-violet  rays.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  this  stimulating  effect  is  due  to  increased  elec- 
trical potential,  as  argued  by  Dexter  (5),  because  the 
more  intense  the  sunshine  and  the  higher  the  temperature 
the  lower  is  the  potential  (14).  The  stimulating  effect  is 
probably  due  to  the  chemical  action  of  the  short  rays  of 
light.  These  rays  probably  penetrate  the  deeper  tissues 
of  the  body  just  like  the  X-rays.  It  is  well  known  that 
persons  suffering  from  chronic  joint  disease,  particularly 
from  joints  affected  with  tubercular  sinuses,  can  be  greatly 
benefited  or  entirely  cured  by  constantly  exposing  the 
affected  limbs  to  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun.  Guggenbuhl, 
it  will  be  recalled,  attained  some  success  in  the  treatment 


20  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

of  cretinism  simply  by  removing  the  cretins  from  the  dark 
Alpine  valley  to  the  sunlit  summit  of  the  Abendberg. 

Because  of  the  stimulating  effect  of  sunshine,  may 
not  an  excess  of  sunshine  be  just  as  detrimental  as  a  de- 
ficiency? It  has,  indeed,  been  assumed  that  the  climatic 
dangers  of  the  tropics  are  largely  due  to  the  injurious 
tropical  sunlight,  particularly  to  the  abundance  of  the 
ultra-violet  rays.  Woodruff  holds  that  the  failure  of  the 
white  race  to  colonize  in  the  tropics  is  due  to  the  ex- 
cessive light,  and  not  to  the  heat  and  humidity.  The  light, 
he  contends,  tends  to  produce  ennui,  neurasthenia  and 
ultimate  collapse  in  blond  persons  (26).  This  conclusion 
is  not  sustained  by  recent  investigations.  Experiments 
have  shown  that  monkeys  do  not  succumb  from  insolation 
in  the  tropical  sun  if  care  is  taken  not  to  allow  the  bodily 
temperature  to  rise,  by  conducting  away  by  brisk  air  cur- 
rents the  excessive  heat  ( Aron,  23) .  The  injurious  quality 
of  the  solar  light  is  thus  due  to  the  infra-red  and  not  the 
ultra-violet  rays.  The  white  man  can  secure  adequate  pro- 
tection in  the  shade  from  the  heat  rays,  and  by  wearing 
white  clothing  he  can  be  adequately  protected  from  the 
ultra-violet  rays. 

Whether  the  retinal  excitation  by  the  sun's  rays  ex- 
erts any  stimulating  influence  is  not  known.  It  is  known, 
however,  that  red  colors  are  stimulating.  They  excite 
some  animals  (for  example,  cattle,  frogs  and  turkeys)  and 
increase  muscular  strength.  Thus  Fere  obtained  the  fol- 
lowing strength  records:  with  ordinary  light,  23  units; 
with  blue,  24;  with  green,  28;  with  yellow,  30;  and  with 
red,  42  (29).  Colors,  as  is  well  known,  possess  marked 
atfective  qualities,  due  not  merely  to  the  affective  tone  of 
the  sensation  and  the  sense  feeling,  but  to  the  affective 
elements  of  consciousness,  namely  associations,  emotions 
and  sentiments  (29).  That  sunlight  does  exert  psychic 
influences  apart  from  any  specific  retinal  influence  is  a 
matter  of  common  experience.  Nevertheless,  the  most  im- 
portant visual  influence  of  sunshine  is  perhaps  not  the 
emotional  satisfaction,  cheer  or  exuberance  which  it  en- 
genders, but  the  optical  value  of  good  daylight.  Daylight 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  21 

is  relatively  colorless  because  it  contains  both  chromatic 
and  achromatic  light.  A  bright  colorless  illumination  is 
best  from  the  standpoint  of  visual  efficiency,  health  and 
affective  quality.  It  is  less  fatiguing  than  a  colored  light 
or  than  intense  or  dull  artificial  light.  Electric  lights  are 
often  too  intense  because  of  the  proximity  of  the  light  or 
because  the  rays  are  thrown  directly  into  the  eyes  or  di- 
rectly upon  the  object  under  observation.  They  thus  over- 
stimulate  the  sensitive  layers  of  the  retina,  and  this  may 
cause  degenerative  changes.  Mercury  vapor  lamps  and 
old  Welsbach  burners  emit  a  greenish  flame  whose  affec- 
tive quality  is  very  disagreeable  to  many  persons.  Many 
of  the  gas  jets  in  common  use,  unless  equipped  with  incan- 
descent burners,  not  only  give  a  weak  flickering,  dirty 
yellowish  light,  which  is  extremely  fatiguing  and  irritating 
to  the  eyes,  but  they  also  vitiate  the  air  of  the  living  rooms, 
particularly  in  the  homes  of  the  poor  in  the  winter  time. 
Add  to  these  difficulties  the  further  fact  that  by  habit 
and  association  we  have  learned  to  base  our  visual  esti- 
mation and  discrimination  of  things  on  their  appearance 
in  broad  daylight,  and  we  begin  to  appreciate  the  baneful 
optical  effects  of  the  frequent  obscuration  of  the  sun  by 
smoke  clouds,  by  smoke-produced  water  clouds  and  fogs, 
and  by  the  filling  of  the  atmosphere  with  opaque  particles. 
As  stated  before,  particles  in  the  air  and  fogs  may  reduce 
the  limit  of  visibility  from  one  mile  to  less  than  one  city 
block.  During  the  dark  days  which  are  common  in  man- 
ufacturing cities  the  lights  must  be  kept  burning  in  the 
homes,  schools,  shops  and  factories — anywhere,  in  fact, 
where  close  eye  work  must  be  done — all  day.  Almost  al- 
ways the  lights  must  be  turned  on  very  early  in  the  even- 
ings. Very  frequently  the  intensity  of  artificial  illumina- 
tion does  not  meet  the  requirements  of  visual  health.  Aside 
from  this,  artificial  illumination  entails  a  considerable 
economic  loss.  Worse  still  is  the  condition  of  those  who, 
through  financial  limitations,  must  work  in  the  dark  gloom 
of  smoky  days  without  the  aid  of  artificial  light.  The 
writer  has  shown  in  a  special  experiment  on  the  visual 
estimation  of  distances  that  bright  objects  are  judged  to 


22  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

be  nearer  the  observer  than  similar  black  objects  when 
placed  at  the  same  distance  (25).  This  being  the  case,  it 
is  evident,  as  indeed  common  observation  indicates,  that 
anything  on  which  the  eyes  must  be  fixated  in  darkened 
illumination  will  be  imperfectly  envisaged.  To  overcome 
this  optical  handicap,  there  is  a  strong  tendency  to  move 
the  object  too  near  the  eyes.  If  done  repeatedly  this  en- 
tails a  severe  strain  on  the  muscles  of  accommodation, 
causing  increased  muscular  fatigue,  which  may  result  in 
muscular  paralysis,  inbalance  or  dioptric  distortions.  On 
the  other  hand,  by  illuminating  an  object  with  good  day- 
light it  will  be  made  to  appear  nearer  to  the  eye.  The 
result  is  that  objects  will  actually  be  held  at  a  further 
distance  and  distant  objects  will  be  seen  without  eyestrain. 
If  an  investigation  could  be  carried  out  on  a  large  scale 
with  sufficient  accuracy,  it  is  possible  that  a  greater  prev- 
alence of  myopia,  myopic  astigmatism  and  other  eye  dis- 
orders would  be  found  in  densely  smoky  cities  than  in 
smoke-free  cities,  so  that  a  positive  correlation  would  be 
found  to  exist  between  eyestrain  or  certain  eye  disorders 
and  atmospheric  smoke. 

Dark  days  repress  the  infra-red  rays  and  thus  dimin- 
ish solar  energy.  In  fact,  on  excessively  smoky  days  only 
a  small  amount  of  solar  heat  penetrates  to  the  earth's 
surface.  This  circumstance  may  be  rather  welcome  to  man 
during  the  excessive  heat  of  the  summer  (although  ob- 
jectionable to  plant  life),  but  during  the  winter  time  it 
may  cause  much  misery,  particularly  among  the  poor,  be- 
cause of  the  excessive  diurnal  cold  during  this  season 
(smoke  clouds  elevate  the  nocturnal  temperature).  It  is 
also  possible  that  the  reduction  of  the  heat  profoundly 
affects  the  habits  of  the  community.  Thus  Dexter  (5)  has 
shown  that  low  temperatures  (10°)  produce  an  excess  of 
drunkenness  amounting  to  38%,  while  high  temperatures 
(85°)  decrease  drunkenness  to  the  extent  of  40%.  High 
winds,  which  lower  the  bodily  temperature,  also  increase 
dissipation.  The  increased  tendency  to  dissipate  probably 
results  from  an  attempt  to  seek  forgetfulness  from  misery 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  23 

in  alcoholic  narcosis,  or  from  an  attempt  to  artificially 
elevate  the  body  temperature  by  indulgence  in  drink. 

Dark  days  exert  a  particularly  sinister  influence 
upon  working  people.  One  factory  head  has  ventured  the 
opinion  that  a  disagreeable  day  yields  about  10%  less  in 
labor  returns  than  an  agreeable  day.  During  human  labor 
the  chemical  products  of  activity  are  greatly  augmented. 
The  amount  of  carbon  dioxide  given  off  during  a  day  of 
work  is  nearly  twice  as  much  as  during  a  day  of  rest. 
Observations  on  the  embryos  of  frogs  also  indicate  that 
more  carbonic  acid  is  given  off  when  it  is  light  than  when 
it  is  dark  (Moleschott).  Therefore,  merely  reasoning 
from  these  premises,  it  would  appear  that  the  bodily  waste 
products  from  muscular  activity,  and  probably  also  to  a 
lesser  extent  from  mental  activity,  are  more  injurious  on 
dark  than  on  bright  days.  Not  only  so:  dark,  sunless 
days  are  likely  to  be  moist,  rainy  or  foggy.  During  foggy 
days  particularly  the  poisonous  gases  are  unable  to  rise 
because  of  the  atmospheric  stagnation  that  obtains  during 
fogs.  On  these  days  the  amount  of  carbon  dioxide  may 
sometimes  be  increased  from  200  to  300  %  as  compared 
with  clear  days.  Dexter  (5)  attributes  the  devitalizing, 
depleting  effects  of  fogs  to  lowered  electrical  potential.  He 
regards  atmospheric  states  of  high  electrical  potential 
as  stimulating  and  vitalizing  to  animal  life.  But  it  has 
not  been  conclusively  shown  that  the  electrical  potential 
is  decreased  during  fogs.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  main- 
tained that  fogs,  especially  thick,  winter  fogs,  usually 
raise  the  potential  (14),  while  the  low  ground  fogs  in  late 
summer  and  fall  have  been  found  to  lower  the  potential. 
But  then,  again,  Chauvenau  found  that  thick,  city  fogs 
exercised  no  influence  on  the  electrical  potential.  It  has, 
therefore,  not  been  proved  that  lowered  electrical  poten- 
tial has  anything  to  do  with  the  depleting  effects  of  fogs; 
but  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  suppression  of  the  tonic 
chemical  rays  of  the  sunshine  is  an  important  factor. 

Again,  moisture  in  the  atmosphere  may  become  very 
injurious  because  it  absorbs  the  poisonous  exhalations  of 
living  organisms.  Hence  the  air  which  must  be  breathed 


24  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

on  moist,  dark  days  is  liable  to  be  surcharged  with  toxic 
waste  products  which  poison  the  individual. 

The  effects  of  moisture  per  se  vary  with  the  tempera- 
ture. During  warm,  moist  atmospheric  conditions  there 
is  diminished  evaporation  from  the  lungs,  fewer  red  cor- 
puscles (because  there  is  less  oxygen  in  the  air),  increased 
tendency  towards  intestinal  troubles,  lowered  resistance, 
and  greater  mental  and  bodily  fatigue  and  prostration; 
while  during  cool  moist  weather  catarrhal,  respiratory  and 
rheumatic  affections  are  aggravated  (3,  26). 

It  has  been  observed  that  changes  in  the  density  of 
moisture  affect  the  sensitivity  for  odors,  tastes  and  touch. 
Tea-tasters  do  their  best  work  on  fair  days  ( 11 ) . 

That  the  electrical  potential  decreases  with  increase 
of  humidity  has,  apparently,  been  established,  except  under 
conditions  of  fog.  It  we  grant  that  a  state  of  high  elec- 
trical potential  stimulates  and  energizes  the  organism, 
then  a  part  of  the  devitalizing  effect  of  humid  days  must 
be  ascribed  to  a  lessened  potential. 

Not  the  least  detrimental  effect  of  the  dark  smoke 
strata  of  our  cities  is  the  fact  that  they  intercept  the  bac- 
tericidal rays  of  the  sun,  namely,  the  blue  and  ultra-violet 
rays.  These  rays  either  check  the  growth  of,  or  completely 
exterminate,  various  kinds  of  pathogenic  bacteria  (1,  6). 
Their  deadly  effect  on  the  tubercle  bacilli  is  universally 
recognized.  Indeed,  as  Sternberg  points  out,  sunlight  is 
one  of  the  most  potent  and  one  of  the  cheapest  agents  for 
the  destruction  of  pathogenic  bacteria.  Less  diseases  are 
found  during  sunshiny  than  foggy  or  cloudy  weather, 
while  the  death  rate  increases  considerably  during  fogs. 
Thus  during  a  November  fog  in  Glasgow  the  death  rate 
rose  to  13.9  while  in  other  Scotch  towns  free  from  fog  it 
was  only  3.3.  But  the  increase  in  the  mortality  is  not 
merely  due  to  the  fact  that  the  sunless,  foggy  states  lower 
the  temperature  and  favor  the  growth  of  micro-organisms, 
but  the  water  globules  absorb  particles  of  dust  and  acrid 
smoke  and  the  toxic  products  of  respiratory  waste.  (In 
factories  dust  particles  become  vehicles  for  the  products 
of  human  fatigue. )  The  inhalation  of  these  products  irri- 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  25 

tates  and  poisons  the  mucuous  membrane.  Moisture  is 
particularly  injurious  in  cases  of  pathological  nasal  ob- 
struction. We  should  not  forget,  then,  that  fog  and  par- 
ticularly dense  smoke  fog  may  entirely  extinguish  those 
rays  of  the  sun  which  exert  not  only  a  germicidal  action, 
but  which  also  possess  a  tonic,  vitalizing  quality,  viz.,  the 
short  wave  lengths. 

Now,  since  smoke  diminishes  the  sunlight,  reduces  or 
suppresses  the  heat  giving  infra-red  and  the  tonic  ultra- 
violet rays,  and  diminishes  the  electrical  potential  (at 
least  during  certain  states  of  the  atmosphere) ;  since  smoke 
increases  humidity,  'both  during  cold  and  warm  weather, 
but  particularly  during  cold  states;  and  since  it  also  in- 
creases fogs,  and  since  fogs  and  humidity  tend  to  increase 
the  poisonous,  bactericidal  and  solid  contents  of  the  air 
and  to  decrease  the  electrical  potential  and  the  heat  light 
rays;  it  is  evident  that  smoke  must  exert  an  important  in- 
fluence on  human  health,  happiness  and  efficiency,  and 
that  the  smoke  nuisance  must  be  regarded  as  a  problem 
of  very  vital  concern  to  any  community  that  would  con- 
serve the  vital  efficiency  of  its  citizenship. 

The  assumption  that  smoke  is  an  immediate,  indirect 
conditioning  factor  in  human  behavior,  because  of  its 
sinister  influence  on  weather  states  (aside  from  its  in- 
trinsically pernicious  qualities),  is  at  least  suggested  by 
the  only  comprehensive  study  extant  of  the  relation  of 
weather  to  abnormal  behavior:  viz.,  Dexter's  investiga- 
tion of  the  influences  of  various  weather  states  on  the  con- 
duct of  a  large  number  of  child  and  adult  offenders  in 
Denver  and  New  York  City  (5).  The  data  which  he 
studied  included  records  of  misdemeanors  in  schools,  peni- 
tentiaries, and  hospitals  for  the  insane,  arrests  for  assault 
and  battery,  for  suicide  and  murder,  records  of  deaths  and 
bank  errors,  and  strength  tests.  From  this  study  Dexter 
arrives  at  the  conclusion  that  days  with  high  temperature 
and  high  humidity  are  unfavorable  to  metabolism.  More 
specifically:  anabolism  is  favored  by  high  temperatures 
(though  high  temperatures  deplete  the  vital  reserve),  high 
winds  (because  of  better  ventilation),  and  fair  days  with 


26  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

low  humidity;  while  katabolism  is  increased  by  low  tem- 
peratures, high  humidities,  high  barometric  pressures, 
rainy  and  cloudy  days,  and  calms.  (During  fogs  there  is 
usually  a  condition  of  calm  and  a  fall  of  temperature.) 
The  katabolic  weather  states  tend  to  deplete  vitality,  lower 
the  vital  reserve  and  augment  the  death  rate,  while  the 
anabolic  states  tend  to  stimulate,  invigorate,  irritate  and 
increase  the  nervous  tension.  Conformably  with  this 
classification  of  weather  states  Dexter  finds  statistically 
that  anabolic  conditions  increase  all  the  data  which  are 
of  the  nature  of  offenses. 

Thus — to  limit  the  discussion  to  the  weather  states 
which  are  influenced  by  smoke — school  misdemeanors  were 
increased  on  fair  and  dry  days,  on  days  with  high  winds 
(an  increase  of  200 %  in  Denver),  and  days  with  low  hu- 
midities (increase  of  200%  in  Denver  between  10°  and 
30°;  and  33%  in  New  York  City  between  50°  and  55°). 
Assaults  were  likewise  increased  on  clear  days.  The  rec- 
ords of  suicide  and  attempted  suicide  during  a  period  of 
5  years  in  New  York  City  indicated  that  suicides  were 
31%  more  frequent  on  dry  than  on  wet  days;  21%  more 
frequent  on  clear  than  cloudy  days  (another  investiga- 
tion gave  an  increase  of  1700%  on  clear  and  dry  days, 
while  an  article  in  the  Popular  Science  Monthly  states 
that  the  excesses  were  on  days  of  high  humidity),  and  less 
frequent  on  rainy  days.  The  traditional  view  is  that  most 
suicides  occur  on  cloudy  and  not  on  clear  days.  Villemair 
claimed  that  nine-tenths  of  all  suicides  took  place  on  rainy 
and  cloudy  days,  while  Dickens,  Lytton  and  Pope  stage 
their  tragic  climaxes  on  cloudy  days.  Statistical  evidence 
does  not  support  these  popular  notions. 

Likewise  clear,  and  particularly  excessively  dry  days, 
increased  the  number  of  arrests  for  inebriety,  although  in 
the  article  in  the  International  Journal  of  Ethics  it  is  said 
that  humidity  increases  drunkenness. 

On  the  other  hand,  school  misdemeanors  were  reduced 
on  humid,  rainy,  snowy  and  possibly  on  cloudy  days  and 
days  with  high  temperature ;  while  adult  assaults,  murders 
and  disciplinary  cases  in  penitentiaries  and  institutions 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  27 

for  the  insane  were  also  reduced  on  excessively  humid 
days.  On  foggy  days  more  bank  errors  were  made  in 
New  York  City,  a  finding  in  harmony  with  the  practice 
adopted  by  the  Bank  of  England  of  requiring  clerks  to 
work  at  less  intricate  and  less  important  problems  on 
foggy  and  depressing  days. 

Waiving  certain  discrepancies  which  appear  in  a 
comparative  examination  of  Dexter's  various  articles  it 
appears  that  school  misdemeanors,  assaults,  suicides  and 
drunkenness  are  increased  on  clear  and  dry  days.  The 
increase  in  the  assaults  and  drunkenness  may  be  due  to 
the  fact  that  people  go  out  more  on  clear  than  on  wet 
days,  hence  have  more  opportunities  foi  getting  into 
brawls — though  one  might  argue  that  on  dark,  foggy  days 
they  would  be  driven  into  the  saloons,  thereby  increasing 
the  offenses.  On  dry  days  perspiration  is  increased  and 
therefore  there  is  more  demand  for  liquid  refreshment. 
But,  what  is  more  important,  there  is  also  very  probably 
some  stimulating  or  irritating  quality  in  clear,  dry,  sun- 
shiny weather.  Dexter  assumes  this,  though  he  does  not 
ascribe  the  stimulating  quality  to  the  dryness  but  to  the 
increased  electrical  potential  of  dry  air.  Pupils  are  stim- 
ulated on  clear,  dry,  sunny  days,  hence  they  are  more 
active,  aggressive  and  enterprising,  but  likewise  more  rest- 
less, high  strung,  emotionally  unstable  and  therefore  also 
more  mischievous.  A  superabundance  of  energy  and  not 
a  state  of  enervation  predisposes  to  childish  pranks  and 
nervous  explosions.  An  increase  of  vitality  and  nervous 
tension  upsets  the  unstable  equilibrium  of  the  predisposed 
offender,  gives  him  a  false  sense  of  strength,  and  an  ex- 
aggerated idea  of  self-importance  (often  paranoia-like  in 
its  intensity),  and  hence  he  becomes  more  aggressively 
criminalistic.  Moreover,  the  exhilarating  qualities  of 
tonic  days  give  the  potential  suicide  just  the  courage  he 
needs  to  take  his  own  life,  the  courage  which  he  may  be 
unable  to  muster  during  states  of  depleted  vitality.  De- 
vitalized states  of  the  body  breed  fear,  diffidence  and 
cowardice. 


28  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

On  the  other  hand,  the  humid  and  hot  days  are  de- 
vitalizing (because  of  low  electrical  potential,  according 
to  Dexter)  and  therefore  lead  to  inaction.  Depleted 
vitality  and  nervous  exhaustion  are  inhibitory  of  action, 
hence  during  devitalizing  weather  states  misdemeanors  de- 
crease in  number. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  opposed  weather  states  exer- 
cise stimulating  and  irritating  influences,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  enervating  and  inhibitory  influences,  on  the  other 
hand ;  but  it  is  not  clear  that  this  is  due  to  a  difference  of 
electrical  potential.  It  remains  to  be  shown  that  height- 
ened electrical  potential  acts  as  a  nervous  tonic  and  irri- 
tant. The  theory  assumes  that  heightened  winds  and  sun- 
shine increase  the  potential;  but  meteorologists  tell  us 
that  the  potential  is  independent  of  both  the  direction  and 
the  velocity  of  wind ;  and  that  the  more  intense  the  sun- 
shine the  higher  the  temperature,  and  the  purer  the  air, 
the  lower  is  the  potential  ( 14 ) .  It  is  apparent  that  these 
conclusions  go  counter  to  the  theory  demanded  by  Dexter's 
empirical  findings  (except  in  the  case  of  humidity  uncom- 
plicated by  fogginess),  and  that  a  more  satisfactory  basis 
of  explanation  is  to  be  sought  in  the  bio-dynamic  proper- 
ties of  the  sun's  rays,  especially  of  the  blue  and  ultra- 
violet rays.  These  rays  dilate  the  blood  vessels,  increase 
the  hemoglobin,  increase  anabolism,  transpiration,  irritate 
the  skin,  stimulate  and  vitalize  nervous,  muscular  and 
mental  action,  and  augment  the  potential  reserve,  work- 
ing force  and  functional  efficiency  of  the  individual.  If 
this  is  true  it  is  clear  that  bright,  sunny  states  while  they 
increase  misdemeanors  and  crimes  in  unstable  individuals, 
also — and  this  is  more  important — energize  the  human 
organism. 

On  this  theory  the  damp,  dark,  smoky,  foggy  days  are 
depleting  and  depressing  just  because  (at  least  so  far 
forth)  they  are  lacking  in  the  tonic,  health-giving  rays  of 
the  sun.  The  investigations  cited  above  indicate  that 
these  weather  conditions  actually  are  in  the  main  devit- 
alizing, depressing  and  inhibitive  of  action,  and  that  they, 
therefore,  decrease  breaches  against  law  and  order.  These 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS 


29 


conclusions  do  indeed  seeni  to  be  justified  by  the  rather 
incomplete  statistics  of  violence  which  are  available  from 
the  various  cities  of  the  country.  Thus,  Table  V,  statis- 
tics of  homicide,  show  that  there  is  no  increase  in  the 
frequency  of  murders  in  the  cities  whose  atmosphere  is 
supposed  to  be  surcharged  with  smoke  and  where,  accord- 
ingly, depleting  weather  conditions  obtain. 

TABLE  V. 
HOMICIDE  STATISTICS  FOR  31  AMERICAN  CITIES. 


Memphis,  Tenn. 
Charleston,  N.  C. 
Savannah,  Ga. 
New  Orleans,  La. 
Atlanta,  Ga. 
Louisville,  Ky. 
Nashville,  Tenn. 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 
San  Francisco,  Cal. 
Cincinnati,  Ohio 
Chicago,  111. 
Spokane,  Wash. 
Seattle,  Wash. 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Manhattan  and 

The  Bronx,  N.  Y. 
Cleveland,  Ohio 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
Providence,  R.  I. 
Boston,  Mass. 
Dayton,  Ohio 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Baltimore,  Md. 
Reading,  Pa. 
Philadelphia,  Pa, 


1901-1910. 

1911. 

No. 

Rate  per 

No. 

Rate  per 

100,000 

100,000 

556 

47.1 

85 

63.4 

159 

27.7 

25 

42.3 

154 

25.6 

25 

37.8 

702 

22.2 

83 

24.1 

215 

17.1 

48 

29.8 

356 

16.5 

36 

15.9 

132 

13.6 

40 

35.3 

804 

12.6 

108 

15.5 

343 

11.42 

44 

10.4 

328 

9.4 

1659 

8.4 

203 

9.1 

55 

8.0 

3 

2.7 

119 

7.6 

20 

7.9 

210 

6.8 

31 

9.2 

1249 
234 
243 

97 
283 

44 
583 
215 

32 
529 


5.1 
4.9 
4.9 
4.8 
4.6 
4.3 
4.2 
4.0 
4.0 
3.7 


197 
50 
50 

33 

8 

61 
27 

7 


6.9 
8.6 
5.3 

4.8 
6.7 
3.6 

4.8 
7.2 
4.2 


30  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

Hartford,  Conn.  24  3.3  4  4.0 

Buffalo,  N.  Y.  109  2.8  25  5.8 

Minneapolis,  Minn.  71  2.7  11  3.6 

Newark,  N.  J.  68  2.3  6  1.7 

Rochester,  N.  Y.  43  2.3  14  6.2 

Milwaukee,  Wis.  56  1.7  11  2.8 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Shipley  has  argued  that  the  ratio  of 
murders  in  various  cities  of  the  United  States  is  directly 
related  to  the  prevalence  of  various  alien  races,  the  Mex- 
icans being  the  chief  homicidal  offenders  (121  murders 
per  100,000  of  the  population),  followed  by  the  Chinese 
(65)  and  the  Italians  (50.2)  (20). 

The  statistics  for  suicide  in  Table  VI  are  mostly  for 
cities  with  low  smoke  density.  It  is  observable,  however, 
that  the  suicide  rates  are  low  in  the  two  worst  smoke- 
effending  cities  tabulated,  viz.,  St.  Louis  and  Pueblo. 

TABLE  VI. 

SUICIDE  BATES  PER  100,000  IN  AMERICAN 
CITIES  FROM  1900-1909. 

(L.  L.  Hoffman.) 

San  Francisco  52.0 

San  Diego  38.5 

Hoboken  35.4 

Sacramento  35.3 

Los  Angeles  30.2 

Oakland,  Cal.  29.7 

St.  Louis  29.7 

Seattle  27.8 

Springfield,  111.  27.8 

Pueblo  27.7 

These  statistics  are  in  complete  agreement  with  European 
suicide  statistics.  The  traditional  view  had  it  there  was 
an  abnormally  large  percentage  of  suicides  in  England 
and  that  this  was  largely  due  to  a  cosmic  factor — the 
murky,  smoky  gloom  of  Great  Britain.  Investigation 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  31 

shows,  however,  that  the  percentage  of  suicide  in  Eng- 
land is  less  than  in  any  other  European  country.  (See 
15,  and  references  in  2.) 

For  assault  and  battery,  and  drunkenness  I  have  been 
unable  to  obtain  statistics.  I  believe,  however,  that  we 
are  justified  in  concluding,  from  the  rather  meager  facts 
in  our  possession,  that  the  devitalizing  weather  conditions 
produced  by  manufacturing  cities  do  not  increase  misde- 
meanors and  crime.  On  the  contrary,  they  seem  to  in- 
hibit rather  than  incite  offenses  against  the  law.  From 
the  standpoint  of  the  police  courts  depleting  days  seem 
to  be  a  desirable  asset,  while  bright,  tonic,  irritating  days 
are  an  undesirable  asset.  Granting  the  truth  of  this  con- 
tention, let  us  not  forget  the  complementary  and  more 
important  facts  presented  in  the  preceding  pages ;  namely, 
that  gloomy,  humid,  foggy  days  (such  days  as  are  pro- 
duced by  smoke-'begrimed  skies)  lessen  vital  potential,  re- 
duce or  retard  activity  and  impair  efficiency,  while  bright, 
dry,  sunshiny  days  increase  the  potential  reserve,  liberate 
energy,  augment  working  capacity  and  stimulate  ambi- 
tion. To  be  sure,  an  unbroken  series  of  smoky  days  might 
prove  too  stimulating,  or  at  least  too  monotonous,  but  the 
elimination  of  city  smoke  will  at  the  most  only  eliminate 
the  frequent  and  oppressive  smoke-induced  weather 
clouds.  Nature  will  still  furnish  an  ample  supply  of 
misty,  cloudy  and  rainy  days. 

NO TE  ON  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  CLOUDY  AND 
CLEAR  DAYS  ON  THE  INSANE. 

Books  on  psychiatry  and  several  psychopathologists 
whom  I  have  consulted  have  very  little  scientifically  estab- 
lished information  to  offer  on  the  reactions  of  the  insane 
to  divers  weather  states.  The  following  reply  from  Dr. 
Max  E.  Witte  who,  as  Superintendent  of  large  hospitals, 
has  been  in  intimate  contact  with  the  insane  for  over  a 
third  of  a  century,  is  suggestive :  "I  regret  that  I  am  un- 
able to  give  you  anything  definitely  set  down  in  black 


32  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

and  white,  and  in  figures,  but  there  is  no  question  what- 
soever, and  it  is  a  matter  of  remark,  even  to  the  least 
observant  of  our  nurses,  that  the  insane  are  very  sensitive 
to  weather  conditions,  and  are  particularly  disturbed  and 
influenced  in  an  unfavorable  way  by  clouded,  overcast 
weather.  Those  who  are  of  an  excitable,  maniacal  ten- 
dency are  more  noisy,  boisterous,  and  restless;  those  who 
are  depressed  are  more  gloomy,  and  inclined  to  forebod- 
ings, and  generally  more  miserable  in  feeling  than  they  are 
during  dry  and  clear  weather. 

A  period  of  several  consecutive  days  of  clouded,  over- 
cast weather  is  promptly  followed  by  reports  of  restless- 
ness, greater  depression,  and  a  general  disposition  to  be 
disorderly,  and  even  violent,  on  the  part  of  those  who  are 
disposed  that  way. 

On  the  other  hand,  dry,  sunshiny  weather  coming  on 
after  such  a  period,  is  soon  followed  by  quieter,  gentler 
and  generally  more  comfortable  moods. 

The  insane,  unless  materially  demented,  react  more 
fully  to  outside  influences,  due  in  part,  in  some  forms,  to 
greater  emotional  mobility,  and  more  particularly  to  a 
lack  of  restraint  by  the  will ;  and  also,  in  part,  to  the  fact 
that  they  have  their  attention  less  occupied  with  the 
matters  and  affairs  of  every  day  life,  than  do  the  sane. 
Still,  I  take  it,  that  the  sane,  judging  by  myself,  are  sub- 
consciously influenced  by  weather  conditions.  I  notice  in 
myself,  on  observation  and  analysis,  that  the  shades  that 
haunt  me  during  gloomy  weather,  fade  with  the  coming 
of  the  sun. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  the  climatic  conditions  that  per- 
manently manifest  themselves,  the  clearness  or  cloudiness 
of  the  sky,  have  impressed  the  peoples,  say  for  instance  of 
Europe,  in  the  course  of  ages,  with  certain  national  racial 
characteristics;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  murky, 
smoky  atmosphere  of  your  city  exerts  an  influence  to  a 
greater  or  lesser  degree  upon  the  morals  and  disposition 
of  the  young  people  who  dwell  habitually  in  your  climate. 

I  do  not  recall  ever  having  seen  any  study,  or  more 
extensive  investigation  of  this  interesting  topic." 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  33 


IL    The  Aesthetic  Aspects  of  Smoke  Pollution 

"The  smoke  nuisance  is  the  greatest  hindrance  to  the 
highest  development  of  civic  beauty  and  refinement" 
(Holdsworth,  33).  Historically  the  first  anti-smoke  prop- 
agandas were  waged  against  the  nuisance  on  aesthetic 
grounds.  In  London  the  use  of  "Sea  cole"  was  legally 
prohibited  during  a  portion  of  the  middle  ages  because 
the  smoke  palls  marred  the  beauty  of  buildings,  which 
were  at  that  time  painted  in  whitewash,  with  colored  dec- 
orations in  front  (34).  Violations  of  the  smoke  statute 
were  considered  so  serious  that  a  citizen  of  London  was 
executed  in  1306  for  burning  "Sea  cole"  (22).  With  the 
lapse  of  the  anti-smoke  ordinance  in  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century  the  use  of  lime  white  and  colored  effects 
on  the  exterior  of  buildings  was  abandoned,  and  in  their 
place  appeared  an  unsightly,  discolored,  mottled,  greasy 
coat  of  tarry  soot  on  the  outside  of  buildings. 

A  smoke-contaminated  atmosphere  imposes  very  se- 
vere restrictions  on  the  efforts  of  the  architect,  sculptor, 
painter,  decorator  and  landscape  gardener  to  beautify  our 
cities.  This  limitation  applies  to  the  character  of  the 
paints  and  colors,  the  nature  of  the  materials,  the  style 
of  architecture,  interior  decoration,  and  the  possibilities 
of  artistic  horticultural  effects. 

Exterior  painting  in  the  form  of  mosaic  or  poly- 
chromic  ornamentation  cannot  'be  successfully  employed  to 
any  extent  in  smoky  cities  (32).  Colored  effects  on  stones, 
metals,  ordinary  or  glazed  bricks  or  faience  will  not  for 
long  retain  their  purity  in  a  murky  atmosphere.  A  grimy, 
blotchy,  streaky,  inartistic,  abject  appearance  of  the  ex- 
terior chromatic  decoration  of  buildings  in  smoky  cities 
is  a  matter  of  common  observation.  Even  glazed  white 
bricks  when  used  inside  the  building  may  become  dirty 
and  discolored.  Observation  shows  that  placards  in  red 
lead  become  gradually  decolored  in  cities,  even  when  pro- 
tected against  the  sun  and  rain,  but  not  in  the  country 


34  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

air  (35).  The  pernicious  influence  of  the  smoke  on  color 
effects  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  the  colors  become 
mechanically  covered  over  by  a  coat  of  tarry  soot  and  dirt. 
This  tarry  mass  may  effectually  obliterate  all  color 
effects.  It  tends  to  adhere  so  firmly  that  it  can  only  be 
removed,  if  at  all,  with  great  difficulty  and  with  the  aid 
of  special  solvents,  and  in  the  process  of  removal  the  col- 
ored paints  often  tend  to  scale  off  with  the  dirt.  The  de- 
filing effect  of  the  actual  dirt  is  the  most  objectionable 
influence  of  smoke  on  stained  glass.  But  smoke  may  also 
cause  the  disintegration  of  paint  films,  owing  to  the  cor- 
rosive agents  which  smoke  often  contains.  It  is  thus  evi- 
dent that  smoke  largely  restricts  exterior  coloration  to  a 
play  of  light  and  shade.  In  fact,  it  tends  to  restrict  paint 
effects  to  the  darker  shades. 

Smoke  also  causes  decay  of  interior  paintings  and 
tends  to  restrict  the  furniture  and  furnishings  to  the  more 
somber  hues.  In  smoky  atmospheres  the  interiors  of  build- 
ings are  usually  more  or  less  dark,  hence  special  efforts 
must  be  made  to  keep  the  paintings  free  from  dust  and 
soot  films.  But  constant  mechanical  or  chemical  cleaning 
or  washing  lessen  the  'brilliancy  of  the  color  effects.  A 
smooth,  varnish-like  or  glazed  coating  on  mural  decora- 
tions is  favorable  for  purposes  of  cleaning,  but  inimical 
to  the  best  artistic  effects.  The  matt  enables  the  colored 
designs  to  show  off  to  the  'best  advantage,  but  matt  is 
absorbent  and  attracts  smoke  and  dirt  products  and  re- 
sists successful  cleaning.  In  the  case  of  paint  on  plaster 
the  corrosive  products  in  smoke  (particularly  sulphuric 
acid)  penetrate  through  the  paint  so  that  it  tends  to  scale 
off;  while  in  the  case  of  fresco  the  porous  surface  of  the 
carbonate  of  lime  provides  opportunity  for  the  tenacious 
lodgment  of  dirt  and  for  the  destructive  action  of  the 
acids.  The  carbonate  is  transformed  into  gypsum.  It  is 
so  expanded  that  it  loses  its  binding  power,  while  the 
painting-ground  is  also  often  destroyed  (30).  It  should 
be  remarked  incidentally  that  housewives  in  smoky  cities 
are  much  inclined  to  keep  doors  and  windows  shut  in 
order  to  exclude  soot  and  dirt.  While  this  may  be 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  35 

aesthetically  commendable,  it  is  none  the  less  hygienically 
objectionable.  Moreover,  the  great  amount  of  extra  labor 
required  to  keep  houses  clean  in  smoky  cities  consumes 
the  vital  reserve  of  many  women  and  robs  them  of  the 
leisure  moments  which  are  theirs  by  right  and  which  are 
essential  for  bodily  rest  and  mental  recreation  and  im- 
provement. 

Xot  only  is  smoke  inimical  to  the  highest  aesthetic 
utilization  of  artificial  coloration — particularly  exterior 
coloration — but  it  obliterates  the  most  richly  colored  pan- 
orama of  nature,  namely,  the  iridescent  clouds  of  the  sky. 
The  situation  in  cities  is  bad  enough  without  the  smoke, 
for  in  large  cities  the  tall  buildings  prevent  many  people 
from  ever  getting  a  glimpse  of  the  beautiful  cloud-scapes 
of  the  sunset  or  the  splendor  of  the  sunrise.  But  when 
you  add  the  smoke  palls  to  the  buildings  you  often  effectu- 
ally close  all  visual  approach  to  the  richly  illumined  and 
picturesquely  silhouetted  clouds  of  the  day  and  the  re- 
splendent stars  of  the  night.  That  this  frequent  obscura- 
tion of  the  sky  limits  the  aesthetic  resources  of  any  com- 
munity has  been  shown  by  the  writer  in  the  article  to 
which  reference  has  already  been  made  (9). 

Clouds  are  capable  of  calling  out  the  strongest  emo- 
tions of  the  soul — fear,  depression,  gloom,  awe,  reverence, 
joy,  cheer  and  hope.  Children  take  great  delight  in  watch- 
ing cloudscapes  and  in  discovering  objects  in  the  con- 
stantly changing  forms.  Over  one  hundred  different  kinds 
of  objects  were  recorded  in  the  replies  which  were  tabu- 
lated in  this  investigation.  Kichly  illumined,  iridescent 
and  constantly  changing  cloudscapes  afford  a  most  fertile 
field  for  the  exercise  of  imaginative  creativeness.  The 
masters  who  have  charmed  the  race  by  their  imaginative 
descriptions  often  have  derived  their  most  exquisite  con- 
ceptions from  the  flying  cloudscapes  rather  than  from 
beautiful  flowers,  mountains,  parks  or  buildings.  No  work 
of  art  can  elevate  the  feelings  to  such  lofty  adoration  of 
the  marvels  of  nature  as  the  colored  glories  of  the  sunset 
and  sunrise  (Biglow).  The  scenes  of  the  Scandinavian 
gods  and  godesses  were  staged  in  cloudland.  The  clouds 


36  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

have  impressed  themselves  upon  the  cosmogony,  mythol- 
ogy, religion,  morals,  beliefs  and  superstitions  of  primi- 
tive races  as  well  as  of  modern  children.  The  modern 
child's  emotional  reactions  are  vestiges  of  ancestral  atti- 
tudes towards  clouds,  while  the  modern  painter  and  poet 
still  find  inspiration  in  cloudland.  City  smoke  not  only 
cheats  us  of  our  birthright,  by  depriving  us  of  an  impor- 
tant means  for  developing  the  powers  of  observation  and 
imagination  as  well  as  of  a  source  of  aesthetic  culture 
(because  it  covers  the  heavens  with  an  opaque  blanket)  ; 
but  it  also  displaces  the  cathedrals  of  nature  with  an  un- 
interesting, nasty,  black,  opaque  pall  of  soot  which  stim- 
ulates tendencies  toward  discontent  and  frequently 
arouses  morbid  emotions.  Mankind  has  always  taken  a 
delight  in  color.  Under  primitive  conditions  man  bedecks 
his  body  with  colored  habiliments  for  purely  decorative 
rather  than  protective  purposes.  Deprived  of  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  natural  terrestial  color  effects  by  high  build- 
ings, man  resorts  to  the  artificial  coloration  of  his  build- 
ings. But  the  smoke  palls  tend  to  subvert  his  every  effort 
to  satisfy  the  demands  of  his  color  sense.  The  abatement 
of  smoke  will  do  much  to  restore  hue  and  chroma  to  their 
rightful  places  in  the  aesthetic  development  of  manufac- 
turing cities. 

Smoke  defaces,  disfigures  or  destroys  buildings  and 
restricts  the  styles  of  architecture.  The  sulphuric  acid 
particularly  corrodes  or  disintegrates  practically  all  kinds 
of  building  materials  (slate  and  granite  possibly  ex- 
cepted ) .  Marble  tends  first  to  turn  green  and  then  black ; 
limestone  deteriorates  very  rapidly,  turning  to  gypsum 
owing  to  its  great  affinity  for  sulphur.  The  absorption  of 
sulphur  causes  the  stone  to  expand,  thus  rendering  it  solu- 
ble and  powdery  so  that  particles  are  constantly  washed 
or  blown  away.  The  very  best  stone  obtainable  was  used 
in  the  new  additions  to  the  House  of  Parliament  in  Lon- 
don, and  every  care  suggested  by  modern  science  was 
taken  to  preserve  the  materials,  yet  the  buildings  were 
much  eroded  after  a  few  years.  One  of  the  worst  aspects 
of  the  smoke  nuisance  is  the  insidiouslv  destructive  in- 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  37 

fluence  of  smoke  on  ancient  buildings,  relics  or  monu- 
ments. 

Smoke  thus  not  only  shortens  the  life  of  building 
materials,  but  it  destroys  the  force  of  expression  of  the 
architecture  so  that  buildings  are  reduced  to  a  shabby 
mass  of  begrimed  masonry.  The  sharp  outstanding  mold- 
ings, designs,  friezes,  cornices,  ornaments  and  carvings — 
the  essentially  artistic  in  architectural  construction — are 
not  only  rapidly  eroded  but  they  are  obliterated  by  the 
dense  deposit  of  tarry  soot,  or  rendered  invisible  because 
of  the  diminished  illumination  caused  by  the  murky  palls 
of  smoke  that  hang  over  our  cities.  In  the  city  of  London 
650  tons  of  soot  have  been  deposited  per  square  mile  of 
ground  surface,  and  soot  deposits  %  inch  thick  have  been 
scraped  from  cornice  projections.  The  beauty  of  the  arch- 
itectural views  consists  in  the  distinctness  of  the  outlines. 
Soot  deposits  conceal  the  artistic  effects  not  only  on  stone 
and  brick  but  also  on  wood.  The  difficulty  cannot  be  en- 
tirely overcome  fry  cleaning,  because  cleaning  tends  to 
remove  the  sharp  edges  and  outlines.  Moreover,  preserva- 
tives for  water  proofing  often  leave  an  unpleasant  color 
and  frequently  are  not  effective  unless  18  or  20  coats  are 
applied  (for  example  of  baryta-water). 

The  ornamentation  of  city  buildings  is  thus  seriously 
restricted,  while  the  preservation  of  historical  landmarks 
is  jeopardized  by  smoke  pollution.  Smoke  and  architec- 
tural embellishment  are  irreconcilable  enemies. 

The  influence  of  smoke  on  metal  work  is  equally 
pernicious.  The  sulphuretted  hydrogen  in  smoke  blackens, 
disfigures  or  tarnishes  nearly  all  metals.  Copper  and 
bronze  rapidly  darken,  iron  rapidly  corrodes,  aluminum 
is  affected  by  vapors  and  acids,  many  metals  become 
pitted  from  electro-chemical  action,  and  even  gold  or 
gilded  articles  become  dull.  Gilt  titles  on  books  will  fade 
in  the  city  while  retaining  their  luster  in  the  country. 
Bright  and  uneven  metallic  surfaces  may  also  become 
coated  with  a  mottled,  sooty  smear.  To  keep  sign  plates 
on  any  metal  work  bright  and  shiny  requires  constant 
work  in  smoky  cities.  The  protective  coatings  used  are 


38  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

not  entirely  satisfactory  'because  they  tend  to  crack  or  to 
peel  off,  or  to  leave  pin  holes.  Constant  cleaning  entails 
large  expense  both  because  of  the  labor  required  and  be- 
cause of  the  wear  on  the  metal.  Rather  than  assume  this 
added  burden  of  expense  merchants  in  smoky  cities  tend 
to  minimize  the  use  of  brilliant  metallic  ornaments.  In 
consequence  such  cities  often  lack  that  polished  metallic 
splendor  which  is  one  of  the  charms  of  the  tourist  cities 
of  the  earth. 

Outdoor  statuary  in  metal  or  stone  in  smoky  cities 
suffers  from  all  the  disadvantages  affecting  buildings  and 
metal  work.  The  bituminous  deposits  cannot  be  removed 
by  washing,  and  statues  can  only  be  protected  by  layers 
of  water  proofing.  But  even  then  ugly  layers  of  grime 
will  cover  the  exterior  and  render  unsightly  some  of  our 
best  treasures  of  municipal  art. 

The  possibilities  of  landscape  or  decorative  gardening 
are  also  artificially  restricted  in  a  smoky  atmosphere. 
Cloudiness  as  such  is  one  of  the  most  important  items  in 
agricultural  climatology.  But  in  addition  to  this  there 
are  many  shrubs  and  trees  which  do  not  thrive  in  smoke — 
rhododendrons,  conifers,  evergreens — while  the  beauty  of 
all  trees,  shrubs  and  flowers  is  marred  by  deposits  of 
smoky  opacity. 

In  consequence  of  the  above  artistic  limitations,  the 
artistic  education  available  not  only  for  the  masses  but 
particularly  for  students  of  art  in  smoky  cities,  is  neces- 
sarily restricted.  Their  first,  and  sometimes  only,  artistic 
impressions  are  derived  from  an  artistically  limited  and 
ultra-utilitarian  environment,  and  from  besmirched  and 
sordid  surroundings  instead  of  from  a  clear,  clean  at- 
mosphere of  artistic  excellence. 

Not  only  do  grimy,  physical  surroundings  debase  the 
aesthetic  ideals  of  the  dweller  in  smoke,  but  they  also 
probably  tend  to  foster  personal  habits  of  carelessness. 
The  children  playing  in  the  streets  in  grimy  cities  become 
so  accustomed  to  soot  and  smut  that  they  learn  to  revel 
in  grime  and  to  glory  in  grease.  To  say  that  we  have  be- 
come a  "well  washed"  race  (as  say  Sir  Thomas  Oliver 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  39 

and  Dr.  Woods  Hutchinson)  because  we  are  being  con- 
stantly denied  by  atmospheric  smut  is  tantamount  to  say- 
ing that  we  have  become  moral,  healthy  and  vigorous  be- 
cause of  contamination  by  the  social  plague  or  infection 
by  virulent  bacteria.  It  is  not  so.  Even  if  we  do  resort 
to  more  frequent  external  cleansing  this  does  not  render 
us  any  cleaner,  because  we  may  forthwith  become  'be- 
grimed by  the  omnipresent  smut  of  the  air.  Moreover,  our 
lungs  and  alimentary  canal  can  not  so  readily  be  "washed 
out,"  so  that  smoke  at  least  keeps  us  interiorally  be- 
grimed. So  far  as  the  young  child  is  concerned,  the  labor 
of  cleaning  is  usually  thrown  upon  the  mother.  Mothers 
evidently  grow  weary  of  washing  the  faces  and  hands  and 
changing  the  clothes  of  their  youthful  progeny  several 
times  a  day.  Hence  the  child  is  left  to  wallow  in  dirt. 
Adults  may  tend  to  continue  the  habits  which  they  formed 
as  children.  They,  too,  at  any  rate,  grow  weary  of  con- 
stant ablutions  and  changes -of  garments,  and  will  tend 
to  adopt  the  more  somber  shades  of  apparel  which  are 
less  readily  soiled  by  soot.  The  lighter  raiment  which 
often  is  more  pleasing  to  the  eye,  and  in  the  summer  time 
is  more  conducive  to  comfort,  must  often  be  tabooed  in 
smoky  cities.  The  wearing  apparel  in  such  cities  in  con- 
sequence will  offer  less  variety  than  in  cities  of  low-smoke 
content.  Women  in  white  fabrics  must  not  venture  to  sit 
down  on  an  unprotected  park  seat  in  smoky  cities  less 
they  carry  away  a  conspicuous  ribbon  of  grime  across 
their  backs. 

It  is  possible  that  habits  of  carelessness,  indifference, 
or  ready  satisfaction  which  the  dwellers  in  smoky  cities 
may  tend  to  acquire,  in  respect  to  personal  cleanliness  and 
dress  and  in  respect  to  the  artistic  and  cleanly  appear- 
ance of  the  external  city  surroundings,  may  transfer  to 
other  aspects  of  their  psychic  existence,  because,  while  the 
doctrine  of  formal  discipline  has  been  exploded  in  its 
crass  form,  psychological  experiments  show  that  habits 
which  have  been  acquired  in  one  phase  of  mental  action 
will  transfer  more  or  less  to  other  phases  of  mental  action 
which  have  similar  or  identical  elements  (36). 


40  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

Finally  it  should  be  emphasized  that  cities  befouled 
with  murky  smoke  are  at  a  decided  disadvantage  as  tourist 
or  residential  places.  Wealthy  tourists  and  globe  trotters 
go  to  the  'brilliant,  resplendent,  ornate,  clean  cities — the 
show  places — and  not  to  the  nasty,  pungent  smoke  pro- 
ducers. Even  if  the  tourist  perchance  does  come  to  a 
dirty  town  he  will  rarely  tarry  there  for  any  length  of 
time.  Few  towns  which  tolerate  the  smoke  nuisance  can 
hope  to  compete  for  tourist  trade.  The  loss  in  tourist 
trade  caused  by  preventable  smoke  in  manufacturing 
cities  represents  an  enormous  economic  loss  to  the  trades 
and  professions  of  those  cities.  Not  only  so,  people  look- 
ing for  a  city  residence  will  not  seek  centers  reeking  with 
smoke.  Ketired  people  of  wealth  will  prefer  the  smoke- 
free  cities  of  culture  and  art  where  they  can  inhale  the 
uncontaminated,  invigorating  ozone  of  sun-kissed  skies. 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  41 


Summary  of  Conclusions 

I.  The  injurious  organic  effects  exerted  by  smoke  on 
human  beings  are  both  direct  and  indirect.     The  direct 
effects  are  due  to  the  injury  caused  by  the  smoke  con- 
tents themselves,  while  the  indirect    effects    arise    from 
meteorological  changes  produced  by  atmospheric  smoke. 

II.  The  mental  effects  of  smoke  and  smoke-produced 
weather  states  are  likewise  both  direct  and  indirect.    The 
indirect  effects  issue  from  bodily  changes  produced  by 
smoke  or  smoke-produced  weather  states,  while  the  direct 
effects  are  due  to  the  influences  of  the  mind's  own  states 
upon  its  subsequent  thoughts,  disposition  and  conduct. 

III.  Smoke  fills  the  atmosphere  with  acrid,  poison- 
ous compounds  and  soot  particles  which  may  serve  as  car- 
riers of  the  obnoxious  products  of  human  fatigue,  which 
irritate  the  sensitive  membranes  of  the  eyes,  nose,  throat, 
lungs  and  gastro-intestinal  tract,  increase  the  susceptibil- 
ity of  gastro-intestinal,  pulmonary  and  naso-pharyngeal 
disorders,  diminish  the  potential  reserve,  working  capacity 
and  well  being  of  the  individual,  increase  fatigue,  irrita- 
bility and  malcontent,  and  may  tend  to  hasten  premature 
decay. 

IV.  Smoke  lessens  the  duration  and  intensity  of  sun- 
shine, reduces  the  intensity  of  daylight,  the  limit  of  visi- 
bility and  the  diurnal  winter  temperature;  increases  hu- 
midity, mists,  the  frequency  and  duration  of  fogs  and  pos- 
sibly alters  the  electrical  potential. 

V.  Sunshine  is  an  important  bio-dynamic  agent.    It 
promotes  anabolism,  transpiration  and  perspiration,  and 
increases  the  percentage  of  hemoglobin.     The  blue  and 
ultra-violet  rays  of  sunshine  exert  a  bactericidal  effect  on 
pathogenic  bacteria,  and  a  tonic,  vitalizing  influence  upon 
the  human  organism.     Sunshine  exerts  an  exuberant  in- 
fluence on  the  feelings.     Moreover,  colorless  daylight  is 
superior  for  visual  efficiency,  optical  health  and  affective 
quality. 


42  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 

VI.  Dark  clouds  have  a  depressing,  devitalizing  ef- 
fect.    They  may  cause  fear  in  children,  reduce  working 
efficiency,  and  labor  returns;  give  rise  to  eye  strain  and 
dioptric  disorders ;  give  rise  to  disquietude,  restlessness  and 
forebodings  in  the  insane;  and  may  increase  drunkenness 
because  of  the  reduction  of  the  diurnal  temperature  in 
the  winter  time. 

VII.  Humidity  increases  the  solid,  poisonous,  bac- 
tericidal contents  of  the  air,  aggravates  various  patho- 
logical conditions  of  the  body,  reduces  the  sensitivity  of 
some  sense  organs  and  depletes  the  vital  potential.    Fogs, 
in  addition,  increase  the  inaccuracy  of  mental  work  ( bank 
errors),  increase  the  prevalence  of  diseases,  and  augment 
the  death  rate. 

VIII.  Clear,  dry  days  are  anabolic  in  character  and 
thus  produce  a  superabundance  of  energy.  While  this  may 
lead,  as  statistics  seem  to  show,  to  an  increase  of  school 
misdemeanors,  assaults,  suicides  and  arrests  for  drunken- 
ness in  emotionally  and  nervously  unstable  individuals,  it 
also  tends  to  energize  the  human  organism,  augment  its 
functional  efficiency  and  enhance  its  achievement  capacity. 
Negatively  the  data  seem  to  indicate  that  smoky  weather 
states  (just  because  they  deplete  energy  and  thereby  in- 
hibit action)   lessen  rather  than  increase  crimes  of  vio- 
lence. 

IX.  Smoke  clouds  are  inimical  to  the  highest  aes- 
thetic development  of  urban  communities.    They  seriously 
limit  not  only  the  possibilities  of  municipal  art,  in  respect 
to  architecture,  statuary,  painting,  and  ornamental  gard- 
ening, but  also  limit  the  possibilities  of  art  education  in 
the  community  in  question.      They  begrime,  deface,  de- 
color, destroy  and  corrode  interior  and  exterior  artistic 
effects  in  color,  brick,  stone,  marble  or  metal.     They  be- 
foul the  persons  as  well  as  the  dress  of  the  inhabitants, 
limit  the  range  of  wearing  apparel,  and  may  foster  habits 
of  indifference.  They  obliterate  the  natural  terrestial  pan- 
orama of  art,  the  iridescent  clouds  of  the  sky.     Because 
of  the  murky,  abject  inartistic  appearance  of  these  cities, 
they  are  avoided  by  the  wealthy  tourist  and  the  retired 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  43 

person  of  wealth  who  is  in  search  of  a  desirable  place  for 
residence. 

X.  Our  knowledge  of  the  mental  influences  of  at- 
mospheric smoke  pollution  should  be  rendered  more  com- 
plete by  systematic  psychological  research.  Two  methods 
are  available  for  this  investigation,  namely,  the  question- 
naire method  and  the  experimental  method.  By  means  of 
the  questionnaire  a  mass  of  interesting  and  valuable  ex- 
periential, observational  and  impressionistic  data  can  be 
collected  from  children  and  adults  bearing  on  smoke 
psychology.  By  the  experimental  method  it  is  possible  to 
measure  in  quantitative  terms  under  controlled  conditions 
of  smoke  density,  the  influence  of  smoke  upon  the  func- 
tional efficiency  of  various  sensory,  motor  and  intellectual 
processes.  To  prosecute  such  a  research  one  requires  con- 
trolled subjects,  controlled  apparatus  and  controlled 
smoke  rooms. 

My  thanks  for  courtesies  extended  to  me  in  connec- 
tion with  this  research  are  due  to  Dr.  R.  C.  Benner,  Mr. 
J.  J.  O'Connor,  Jr.,  Dr.  W.  W.  Strong  and  Mr.  E.  H.  Mc- 
Clelland. 


44  THE  SMOKE  INVESTIGATION 


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See  discussion  and  references  in  Heck,  W.  H.,  Mental  discipline 
and  educational  values.  1911. 


000768555     5 


Publications  of  the  Smoke  Investigation 

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